Summary of
MINUTES
CANS Board of Directors Meeting
Saturday,
September 6, 2003,Hilton Oakland Airport, California
1. Survey
The Board approved the distribution of a survey on ER coverage that was proposed
by CANS member, Dr. Scott Lederhaus. The
survey is to be sent as soon as possible to both members and non-members.
2. CSNS Meeting
The
fall meeting will be represented by Drs. Wade and Zusman. Dr. Rich reviewed the
2 resolutions that will be presented at the October meeting of the Council of
State Neurosurgical Societies (CSNS) and were previously approved by the Board:
a.
Proposed CME Requirements by ABNS
This resolution requests
that CSNS strongly recommend that the ABNS recognize any CME Category I
educational material that meets AMA Guidelines.
The ABNS plans to designate what is to be
considered “neurosurgery related” and this may likely be only AANS-sponsored.
b.
CNS Bylaws Revision Article V,
Section Nominations for Office
This resolution was written
because the CNS has proposed a bylaws change stating that no one is eligible to
be a CNS officer unless that person has served on the Executive Committee for at
least 3 years. Since the CNS Nominating Committee is appointed by the Board,
there are essentially no checks and balances to ensure an equitable selection of
potential officers nor could CNS members nominate potential officers by
petition. Dr. Smith reported that
this resolution has already passed by electronic vote. Only one of the CANS
Board members and consultants present stated that he had received an electronic
ballot. Dr. Rich will write to the
CNS to notify them of the situation.
3.
AANS Nominations
Dr.
Rich asked the Board to review the nomination letter that will be sent to the
AANS for 2004 officers. Nominations are for Charles Hodge, M.D. for Vice
President and David Jimenez, M.D. and Troy Tippett, M.D. for Directors-at-Large.
These nominations had previously been approved by the CANS Board.
4.
Membership
Dr.
Bonner reported that a recruitment package was recently sent to approximately
200 non-members.
Two new members were approved for membership: Nalin Gupta, M.D. and Sandeep
Kunwar, M.D.,
both of Stanford. Dr. Frank Smith
has asked to resign from CANS due to illness, but the Board
agreed to decline his resignation and to bestow Honorary Membership upon Dr.
Smith. A letter
requesting nominations for candidates for 2004 will be sent to the membership in
about a month since
the
slate is due to the CANS Secretary by
5.
Treasurer's Report
Dr.
Wade reported that the CANS monthly operating income and expenses are stable.
The budget is
in line as expected, although delinquent dues are still being collected.
Annual meeting income will be
important as expenses increase each year.
Dr. Smith suggested that CANS should do something with the money held in the
money market
account for CAPP. Since federal
medical malpractice is sure to become an important issue next year,
the Board should consider contributing money to the malpractice initiative.
The Board agreed that
$1500 would be contributed.
6.
2004 Annual Meeting
Dr.
Rich reviewed the program he has planned for the joint socio-economic session.
Speakers will be
Dr. Richard Anderson of the Doctors Company (medical malpractice) and three
speakers on
Medicare (John Nelson, M.D. of the AMA,
Richard Taw of the American Private Physicians Association and
Barry Straube, M.D. of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid).
The CANS Business Meeting will
include Katie Orrico of the Washington Committee, Dr. Smith (AANS /CME and
Recertification) and
Dr. Florin (Workers’ Comp update). There will also be a 5-CME hour
Fluoroscopy session and an alternate session presented by the ACN
on traumatic brain injury. The grant request letter will be resent to the
Board members so they can follow
up on local contacts.
7.
Liaison
with ACN
The issue on whether to continue holding a joint annual meeting with
the Association of California
Neurologists (ACN) will be discussed further at the joint Executive Board
Meeting (CANS and ACN)
on
Friday,
8.
Letter of Reference for Dr. Rogan
The
Board agreed that a letter of
reference for Dr. Gerald Rogan, former Executive Director of
National
Heritage Insurance Company (NHIC) would be sent.
9.
CMA Committee Nominations
The
Board will submit the names of the following candidates for various 2004 CMA
committees:
Re-appointments
Robert
Meredith, MD
Council on Ethical Affairs
Robert Meredith, MD
Committee on Workers’ Compensation
Patrick Wade, MD
Committee on Professional Liability
New
appointments
10.
Blue
Shield/IDET
Blue Shield of California has requested that CANS review its current
position statement on
Intradiscal
Radiofrequency Thermocoagulation (IDET) and that CANS send a representative to
its
11.
HIPAA
CMA
has information available for members who have not met the requirement for HIPAA
compliance. No action required.
12.
MBC
Dr.
Lippe attended the recent meeting of the Medical Board of California (MBC). Dr.
Rich reviewed
the report summary prepared by Dr.
Lippe stating that from 1993-2002, there were 120,000 practicing
physicians in
13.
Workers’ Compensation
Dr.
Florin reported on the current situation of Workers’ Comp which is still being
discussed in the
Legislature. The best prediction is that there will be a five billion dollar
cut. He thinks that the
decision will be to use the OMFS
and take a straight % cut across the board, at 5 or 10 percent; caps
on physical therapy and
chiropractic visits; fee schedule of 120% of Medicare for outpatient
surgery
centers; and a MediCal-type fee
schedule for drugs. The Conference
Committee is supposed to vote
next week and legislation signed.
Dr. Florin advised that the Board take a wait-and-see approach.
guidelines
that the CMA House of Delegates approved earlier this year. Those guidelines
indicated
that the CMA would oppose the use
of a resource-based fee schedule in the Workers’ Comp system.
Dr.
Florin, along with representatives from the Association of California
Neurologists and the
California
Orthopaedic Association initially developed the idea of a California Relative
Value Update
Committee (CA-RUC) months ago when
they were first involved with the project to update the
OMFS.
This idea was not accepted by the CMA so perhaps some type of group
should be formed
outside of CMA which is mainly
focused on primary care medicine which comprises the broadest
number of physicians in their
organization. A motion was made and
seconded to form a “Coalition
for Fairness in Workers’
Compensation in
who
have endorsed a multiple conversion factor plan and the preservation of current
fee levels for all
codes and specialties:
Society,
14.
Next Board Meeting
The next Board of Directors
meeting will be held
JMT